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By Chris Edwards
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We as a nation are ramping up another political season. Credit our short attention spans and our willingness to be distracted by hyperbole, but every four years marks, yet again, “the most important election of our lifetime.”

Our unwillingness to think past election cycles could prove to be our undoing, but I’ll stand on that soapbox another day.

Elections are typically an exciting time in the news business, and as luck would have it, 2024 happens to be the year that the seat in the Oval Office is up for grabs. Some of you, by the time you read this, may have already cast your ballots for the March primary, courtesy of the early voting period.

There is great power in that vote, and making your voice heard as a citizen. When Jimmy Carter made his farewell address from the presidency, he stated that although he would, in a few days, lay down his official duties of the office he held, he would, soon, “take up once more the only title in our democracy superior to that of President: the title of citizen.”

Much of the conversation, nationally, is focused toward the general election in November, or more specifically, who will occupy the White House. As the race to November ramps up, neighbors will engage in the new national pastime of ripping one another apart, especially on social media, over things that, in the long run, have such little impact that the rational minded folks are left scratching heads, wondering “why?”.

The current generation of young folks probably doesn’t realize this, but there was a time when we didn’t yell at one another over nonsense, when there was civility in our discourse. There was a time when we interacted and talked among ourselves about family; sports; music; food; fishing; the weather and so many other relatable topics.

A friend of mine was telling me about how an ill-mannered buffoon accosted him at a fundraising event earlier this week featuring Gov. Abbott. The reason for the interaction: my friend deigned to ask a question of Abbott that, although based in objective fact (i.e. reality) did not align with the man’s viewpoint.

As a voter, what interests me is what can be done for the good of the people and finding candidates who are running for their respective offices with that willingness to serve, and not their party affiliations.

No matter what race you are voting for, or ballot measure you are looking at, the maze of elections can be quite confusing. Luckily there is a solution to help you make that choice.

The service organization Rotary International has a moral code that can be applied to pretty much every aspect of life including, yes, voting.

The Four-Way Test, which is used by Rotarians around the world as a test of “things we think, say or do” was created by a businessman in the early 1930s by the name of Herbert J. Taylor, who developed the test a step toward saving his struggling aluminum products distribution company.

Taylor’s simple four-way test consisted of these questions:

1. Is it the truth?

2. Is it fair to all concerned?

3. Will it build goodwill and better friendships?

4. Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

The Four-Way Test was later adopted by Rotary International in the 1940s and is likely the most inclusive set of basic humanitarian ethics known to any group. It is devoid of partisanship and not beholden to any faith, but it can be used in any situation, not just in business or personal relationships.

Commit these questions to memory or clip out the four questions above and bring them with you to the polling place or apply them thusly as you are gathering information on how to cast your votes prior to heading out to do so.

Those four questions transcend any cultural or religious boundaries and they are still as relevant today as they were when Herbert Taylor wrote them on an index card so many years ago. Those questions, simple as they might be, involve depth, perspective and maturity that should be required before casting any vote.

Putting the myriad of options to the Four-Way Test can eliminate a great deal of confusion and/or queasy feelings one might have after begrudgingly voting for one candidate just to spite another. It also clears up that “lesser of two evils” mentality that affects many.

Hopefully the coming election results will yield officeholders and policies which will be truthful, fair, beneficial to all concerned and will bring us back from the ever-increasing divide.

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By Patrick Svitek
Texas Tribune

Less than a year ago, Donald Trump’s political strength was waning among Texas Republicans.

He was being blamed for an underwhelming midterm election, he was facing mounting legal problems and many prominent Texas Republicans were hesitating to endorse his comeback bid.

But not all of them.

U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Houston endorsed Trump in a statement sent out to reporters before Trump had even finished his November 2022 speech at Mar-a-Lago, announcing his campaign to take back the White House.

What happened next in Texas is much like what happened elsewhere: Republican officials started 2023 open to a Trump alternative but ultimately came around as Ron DeSantis underwhelmed and Trump appeared increasingly inevitable. Those endorsements — their order and intensity — could prove to be consequential for those Republicans in the country’s biggest red state as the famously transactional president and his allies look to the future.

“They’re a complete joke,” Hunt said of Trump’s Texas endorsers in recent months. “If you’re endorsing President Trump by the time he’s up 60 points, you’re not a serious person.”

While polls once showed Trump and DeSantis tied in Texas, they now suggest the primary is all but over here. A survey released last month by the University of Houston found Trump leading former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley 80% to 19%, with just 1% undecided.

It has been sweet vindication for Trump’s earliest backers in Texas, like Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller. Miller declared himself the first statewide official to endorse Trump for 2024 — at a Trump rally two years ago in the Houston suburbs.

“Eventually [other state GOP leaders] just kind of saw the writing on the wall,” Miller said in an interview. “Trump was gonna be the nominee, might as well get on the train before it leaves the station.”

Perhaps the most revealing Texas endorsement came shortly after Trump won the New Hampshire primary last month. Two minutes after NBC projected Trump the winner, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, took to X, formerly known as Twitter, and lent his support.

“I have seen enough,” Cornyn said.

Cornyn had spent much of 2023 expressing interest in a post-Trump direction for the GOP and saying he did not plan to endorse in the primary regardless. Cornyn even said in May that he thought Trump’s “time has passed him by.”

  But Trump’s vanquishing of the primary field appeared to sway Cornyn, who also has his own personal political considerations. He is up for reelection in 2026 and has made no secret he wants to be Senate majority leader one day.

  Now Cornyn is helping host a major Trump fundraiser next month in Washington, D.C., along with U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and most of Texas’ House GOP delegation, including two new supporters, Reps. Dan Crenshaw and Jake Ellzey.

The DeSantis promise

After the 2022 election, DeSantis was the hottest thing in Texas GOP politics. Abbott’s critics — Republicans and Democrats — were comparing everything he did to the Florida governor. Polling showed DeSantis was tied with Trump in a hypothetical primary matchup. And after Trump suggested abortion laws like Texas’ were hurting the GOP at the ballot box, some state GOP leaders did not hesitate to push back.

When Trump announced his comeback campaign in November 2022, the only Texas officials who endorsed him were his most diehard allies beyond Miller: Attorney General Ken Paxton and three members of the congressional delegation: Hunt and Reps. Ronny Jackson of Amarillo — who served him as White House doctor — and Troy Nehls of Richmond.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who had chaired Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns in Texas, only praised Trump’s announcement speech in a Facebook post, stopping short of a clear-cut endorsement. He later made his support more explicit and is again serving as Trump’s Texas campaign leader.

But the Trump campaign was already moving to snuff out any traction for the Florida governor in Texas. Trump was planning to visit Texas for a rally in late March, and his campaign wanted to announce a major round of Texas endorsements ahead of it.

Patrick was fully onboard as Trump’s 2024 Texas chair by now and helped pick the location, Waco.

In the days before the Waco rally, Trump’s earliest Texas supporters in Congress got to work. Hunt and Jackson worked the delegation in coordination with the Trump campaign, making clear the Waco rally would be a defining moment to get onboard in Texas.

Hunt said he sent his chief of staff into a meeting with other Texas GOP staffers, carrying a simple message: “You need to endorse him by this week or you will not be part of this team.”

Consolidation

  U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, whose top strategists had gone to work for DeSantis, swore neutrality in the primary but said in August he saw a two-man race between Trump and DeSantis.

Then, in November, the dam started to break again.

Gov. Greg Abbott had never fully embraced Trump, often skipping the president’s rallies in Texas and letting other statewide officials have the pro-Trump spotlight. But by November, he saw the writing on the wall and figured if he was going to endorse Trump by then, he might as well do it in a way that left an impression on the famously transactional former president.

So Abbott invited Trump to the Rio Grande Valley, where they served Thanksgiving meals to state troopers there and Abbott gave a speech praising Trump’s legacy on border security. Speaking after Abbott, Trump indicated he knew Abbott was a big get.

With Abbott in his corner, Trump cranked up the heat on Cruz, using his Truth Social media platform in early December to threaten to jeopardize Cruz’s reelection campaign. But Cruz held firm on staying out of the primary.

Haley donors

Now Haley is making a last stand against Trump — and Texans are playing a major role.

Haley retains the support of some of the state’s biggest Republican donors, including Harlan Crow — the billionaire who has been accused of bankrolling Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s lavish lifestyle — Ross Perot Jr. and John Nau. They are on the host committees for a fundraising swing that Haley is making through Texas later this month, hitting Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.

A pro-Haley super PAC has also counted Texans among its top givers recently. The Dallas oil billionaire Ray Hunt and his wife Nancy have given a combined $1.2 million to the group, including half that as recently as late December.

Betsy Price, the former Fort Worth mayor who has long backed Haley, said Haley’s Texas supporters are “tired of all the drama” that comes with the former president.

“They’re tired of all the melee following Trump around,” Price said. “Whether it’s right or wrong, it’s there. It’s a distraction from the issues.”

Haley’s Texas supporters know her path forward is very tough. Price said she “needs a good showing” in South Carolina — not necessarily a win — and “just has to take this one primary at a time.”

Haley also has the backing of former U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, R-Helotes, who ran for president earlier in the cycle. He endorsed Haley when he dropped out in October and has been stumping for her, including at a “Women for Nikki” event last month in Dallas.

One by one, the political dominoes have fallen in Trump’s favor over the past two months. Creighton endorsed Trump in mid-December. Texas GOP chair Matt Rinaldi, a one-time DeSantis fan, endorsed Trump after the New Hampshire primary, saying it was worth an exception to the neutrality that is expected from state party officials.

To be sure, the Texas GOP is still not fully unified behind Trump. About a third of the Republicans in the congressional delegation have not endorsed him yet, and at least one statewide official, Comptroller Glenn Hegar, has stayed silent on 2024.

At the same time, some prominent Texas Republicans are not just backing Trump again but also deepening their support. Tim Dunn, the far-right megadonor from Midland who recently sold his oil company, gave $5 million to a pro-Trump super PAC in December — his biggest disclosed political contribution ever, let alone to Trump.

For some Texas Republicans who were hopeful for a Trump alternative, the process has been a little dizzying.

Take for example House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, who notably spoke out after the 2022 election about the negative effect he believed Trump was having on down-ballot candidates. It was a critique he never publicly revisited as Trump bounced back, and now Phelan is having to brush off any tensions with Trump in his own primary, where the House’s 2023 impeachment of Paxton, a top Truly ally, is an animating issue.

“I don’t have a problem at all,” Phelan said at a campaign stop last month. “I voted for President Trump twice. I’ll vote a third time.”

Last week, Trump endorsed Phelan’s primary challenger, David Covey, saying Phelan’s recent comments did not “mitigate the Absolute Embarrassment” of Paxton’s impeachment.

While some donors are still holding out hope for Haley, others are resigned to a Trump nomination.

Denton lawyer Tom McMurray had given $1 million to a super PAC supporting former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in June. McMurray did not agree with Christie on everything but liked how he was going toe-to-toe with Trump.

McMurray said he did not expect the primary field “to just clear out in one quarter.”

“Clearly I’m going to support the Republican nominee over anything the Democrats are going to put up,” McMurray said. “I don’t know if I’m going to get a choice past South Carolina, but at the end of the day, I’m gonna support him.”

Even Roy, who was critical of Trump as a DeSantis surrogate, has said he will support the Republican nominee. He has not formally backed Trump yet but has downplayed any acrimony with the former president since DeSantis exited.

“That’s the sort of kiss-the-ring mode, and, like, I don’t do that,” Roy said in a Fox News interview Thursday when asked about Trump’s demands for support. “He knows that. He respects that. And by the way, Rick Perry called him a cancer and the next year, he was the secretary of energy. I think we’ll be just fine.”

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 Special to the Booster

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Congressman Brian Babin (R-Woodville) issued the following statement on Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report regarding President Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified documents:

“The DOJ has proven Joe Biden is a corrupt liar who violated the law with his mishandling of classified documents,” said Babin. “The current president has accepted bribes, participated in influence peddling schemes, seditiously damaged our sovereignty and national security for monetary gain, and more. Yet, he apparently will not be held accountable for any of it because he is ‘a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.’ And outrageously, the DOJ still chooses to continue its double standard of justice by refusing to prosecute Sleepy Joe while aggressively going after Donald Trump. The DOJ has established that Joe Biden neither qualifies nor deserves to serve as President of the United States. Unfortunately, VP Harris is equally inept. I pray Americans are awake and paying attention to the unacceptable incompetence of our country’s top leaders.”

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I am proud to be the publisher of your newspaper. While reading a recent issue, I was reminded how many items are covered between the pages each week. Whether you read digitally, or enjoy the print version, your paper is where you can read about a wide variety of local topics in one location.

For example:

•The county schools are getting new district alignments.

•First-grade students received toothbrush kits that included a toothbrush, toothpaste, floss and information about dental care.

•The Trinity Beautification committee has been working for a year on their beautification projects, and now has a new welcome sign on both ends of the main road.

•The Martin Senior Center is hosting a valentine’s lunch for only $10 that includes filet mignon.

•Cheer tryouts for Trinity are coming up March 9, and Nathaniel Dumas won a gold medal in the solo competition to qualify for state.

•Groveton High School dropped to Class 1A 20 years ago this month.

•A two-bedroom home in Groveton on Turner Street is for sale. Also, 37 acres on FM 230 in Trinity is for sale.

•Apple Springs had a big win against Slocum … it was a game with playoff implications.

•Early voting begins Feb. 20

•In other news, the City of Groveton is taking applications for the utilities secretary position, White Rock Storage is renting climate-controlled storage units, and Hoke Stump Grinding does large and small jobs.

Could your paper provide even more information to the community, more than the above-mentioned items, puzzles, happenings, classifieds, legal notices, advertisements, and obituaries? Yes.

Thanks to you, those who subscribe to this paper or buy it on the newsstand or advertise – you are the reason we can provide what we are providing. We are doing our best with our current resources to bring to you a paper compiled by educated/trained professionals. We also crowdsource information from so many of you who partner with us to bring the most complete newspaper for the county each issue. We will continue to work toward becoming even better and more complete.

When you think about your community, please remember to stay positive and be cooperative with your local newspaper. Make sure all the locals have an obituary in the local newspaper … for information, and to provide an archived history in one, safe location. When your company or organization is asked and/or required to run a legal notice, please consider it a small price to pay to make sure all our community can be informed of important things going on in the county. Sell your personal, business, and professional items and services within the pages of the newspaper.

According to well-documented statistics, a community with a good newspaper has higher voting turnout, more volunteerism, more community involvement, and more local commerce. We need each other to survive and thrive.

I look forward to our continued partnership. Reach out to me anytime. My email is This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..